Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Travelling with the Omnio stroller

As a family we love to travel. We've never let having children stop us from enjoying travelling the world, we've just embraced it. I won't lie, sometimes family travel can be stressful but the majority of the time it's wonderful. Thankfully there are lots of great products being invented to help make travelling with children easier and stress free.One of these wonderful inventions is the Omnio Stroller. The stroller was designed by two parents who were looking for something on the market that helped them with days out, travel and the day to day struggles with venturing anywhere with a pushchair. They are from Wales and are a British business which I love. I think it's always great to support anything made from home.

We were recently sent a stroller to review which arrived just in time to take with us on our family holiday to Florida last month. We knew this would be a great opportunity to road test its use when travelling as we would be using it an the airport, at the theme parks and in general day to day. This post will focus on using the Omnio at the airport.

One of the things that impressed hubby and I was how compact it is when it is folded. We had to drive to the airport and as you can imagine there was hardly any space in the car. Between the 2 adults, 2 kids and car seats, 3 big suitcases and hand luggage, there was little space for a stroller but we obviously had to take one. Luckily, the Omnio folds into a perfect compact size which fits neatly into tight spaces. We actually had it on the floor behind the passenger seat.

Once we arrived at the airport I was able to wear the stroller on my back like a rucksack. This is one of its special, unique features. Both the girls were super excited to be at the airport so they wanted to walk around and explore.

All of the airport staff were very curious and amazed at the stroller. They all wanted to have a good look at it and were asking lots of questions.

When we got to security I was very grateful that I had the Omnio. I was able to simply take it off my back and pop it on the x-ray belt with ease. There was no faffing around and it all took literally seconds. Even if one of the girls had been in it at the time, it still would have been a quick and easy process. It folds down very quickly and as i've already mentioned it's compact so you're not worrying about bashing any other passengers with the end of your stroller (yes I have done that before).

After running around the airport like a lunatic, Eva wanted to be chauffeur driven to the aeroplane. This is one of the great things about the Omnio, it can be used roughly up to the age of 5 unlike other strollers.

As always we were running a bit late to get to the gate. You know what it's like when you have kids, you are always chasing your tail and then there's toilet breaks etc to contend with. We flew from Manchester airport which is a very big and very busy airport. There were hundreds of people everywhere and of course our gate was quite a walk away from us. This is where the strollers' awesome wheels kicked in to play.

Daddy took control of the stroller like some kind of racing driver. Lewis Hamilton eat your heart out. The Omnio is very agile which is a result of its ultra responsive wheels. He was able to dodge, weave, pull some swanky backward driving manoeuvres and basically beat everyone to the finish like (aka the gate) in record speed.

The wheels have a series of curved rollers which allow the stroller to be moved traditionally and also side to side. Daddy and Eva loved this feature. They regularly practised their 'drifts' as they called them, but that's another story. You'll be able to view that in an upcoming youtube video.

We decided to leave the stroller at the gate. You can actually take it onto the cabin section of the aircraft but we had enough hold allowance for us to leave it underneath. The ability to be able to take it onto the cabin is a fab feature. If you're travelling short haul and are limited on your weight and baggage allowance etc then you can simply carry it onto the plane like a rucksack and leave it in the overhead compartment. This is also handy if you are taking car seats etc too. Most airlines allow limited baby items to be taken without having to pay extra.

Once we arrived in Florida we were able to pop Ophelia in the stroller whilst we were collecting our suitcases. We then made our way to exit the airport. This was like the Krypton factor itself (yes I remember that show). There were various obstacles in our way to get out of the airport but thankfully the stroller was one less thing to worry about. We had stairs, lifts, escalators, heavy suitcases and no help to contend with. The Omnio is very versatile for these such problems as it's light to carry (even when a child is in it), you can fold it up quickly, carry it on your back or simply push it.

Overall, we found the Omnio stroller perfect for using around an airport. It certainly made our experience a lot easier. Both of the girls enjoyed being in it and both hubby and I found it light to carry and easy to manoeuvre. It's the ideal accompaniment for travel loving families.

Make sure you pop back to my blog soon so you can read about how we got on with it at the Disney theme parks and a review of the stroller overall.

You can buy one in black, teal or red from various retailers, Stockists which also now includes Mothercare.

*Thank you to Omnio for sending us a stroller in exchange for our honest opinions*

Wow I can't believe how small it folds up, but how robust it looks when in use. We really need a small one for our holiday this year and I don't think I've seen one this small before. I love that you carry it on your back too, perfect! x